voter in chief. >> i can't tell you who i voted for. >> the u.s. president casts his

ballot 12 days before most americans go to the polls. barack obama has served as an example in his campaign's effort to get out the vote. the president stopped at a polling station in his home in chicago. campaign strategists for barack obama and mitt romney say early voting could be' decisive factor in the election. obama became the first president to vote early. he urged his supporters to exercise their rights before election day november 6th. obama made the same pitch in the 2008 election. votes cast early accounted for 30% of the total. >> all across the country we're seeing a lot of early voting. it means you don't have to figure out whether you need to take time off work and figure out how to pick up the kids. >> experts say the share of early votes this time could reach 35%. the figure could exceed 60% in swing states such as colorado and florida.

obama visited six battleground states during a swing to win over undecided voter. he slept on air force one to save time. the president spoke before an audience of 15,000 people in the state of virginia. he told them that a republican policies had created an outflow of american jobs and caused the economic downturn. >> we can't afford to go backwards to the same policies that got us into this mess. we have got to go forward with the approximately see that are getting us out of the mess and that's why i am running for a second term. that's why i need your help. >> romney is targeting voters in swing states. people believe ohio will be crucial. >> this is an electtionion aboug things. the american people can't afford four more years. change that will bring and

opportunity. >> a new opinion poll suggests romney has topped 50% on support of likely voters. the first time he hit that mark. abc news and "washington post" have made 1,400 likely voters from sunday to wednesday. 50% of respondents said they would vote for romney. 47% for obama. the pollsters asked who would better manage the economy. 52% said romney. 43% said obama. the election is decided by the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. there are 538 votes in the electoral college. abc news estimates obama is likely to win 217 of them, romney, 191. syrian military commanders say they'll abide by a cease-fire during a muslim holiday over the weekend, but government and opposition forces have shown little sign of letting up in their fighting.

>> united nations and arab league envoy organized the tuesday for the festival. government and opposition forces agree to lay down their arms from friday through monday. they agree to lay down arms from friday through monday, but arm commanders say they reserve the right to retaliate against rebel attacks. the head of the opposition forces military council says he's skeptical that government forces will stick to their word. >> the two sides kept up the fighting. several place as head of the truce. government forces are said to have reinforcements. neither side respected a cease-fire in april.

buddhists and muslims in western myanmar have taken up their fight against. at least 56 people have been killed. nearly 2,000 homes destroyed. government has declared a state of emergency in the region. government officials say the fighting there begin to escalate on sunday. 90% of myanmar's population is buddhist. the minority have grown frustrated with being discriminated against. at least 90 people died in clashes between the two groups in june. u.s. state department spokesperson, victoria nulen says ethnic groups must demonstrate mutual respect. efforts should be made to achieve national reconciliation. u.n. secretary-general moon says myanmar is striving for tolerance and moderation and such events must not be allowed to tarnish its efforts. crowd in tokyo gathered for

a countdown. watched by crowds around the world. they're awaiting the launch of microsoft's latest operating system. windows 8. >> it really is an exciting, exciting day. windows 8, yeah, i'm excited. >> the biggest windows upgrade in 17 years, went on sale around the world, at the stroke of midnight. shoppers in the electronics district, counted done to the launch. and scrambled to buy the latest soft ware and pcs installed with windows 8. the operating system, displays tiles that provide touch screen functions. microsoft engineers designed the feature with tablet computers in mind. new pc models set for release will have jones that can be say rated from their key boards. pc manufacturers are set to

unveil the newest tablets this week. they hope the launch of windows 8 will boost sales of their latest products as the year-end shopping season approaches. meanwhile, apple reported a record profit for the july to september period. that's likely due to strong sales of its new smart phone. the high tech giant said thursday its sales for third quarter came to $36 billion. that's up 27% from the same period last year. net income also rose 24% from year ago to 8.2 billion. both figures are record highs for the quarter. the iphone 5 pushed up smart phone sales. sales rose 58%, compared to the same quarter in the previous year. sales of ipad tablets also post aid rise of 26%. apple launched a smaller version of ipad this month.

samsung electronics posted record earnings for the quarter. managers at the south korean firm saw strong demand for their range of smart phones. total sales for july to september, amounted to $48 billion. that's up 26% from a year earlier. samsung posted an operating profit of $7.4 billion. that's up more than 90% from the previous year. those successes came as the south korean economy gears down. gross domestic product, slowed further in the last quarter. the people at the bank of korea said the economy grew 0.2%, compared to the previous quarter. south koreans will vote in a presidential election in december. many are trying to figure out which candidate will best be able to grow the economy. now, the japanese government has decided on a stimulus package worth $5 billion. new measures are designed to prop up the nation's economy.

the program was abducted at a cabinet meeting on friday. it will be financed by existing funds, including reserves from the budget. the package in clouds about $1 billion in subsidies for small and medium sized firms and stores and areas hit by the march 11 disaster last year. it will let them jointly launch businesses. $500 million, ear marked to support firms that build factories in fukushima prefecture. $1.5 billion will be used in preparedness for disassers. 123450 -- disasters. some chinese parents are suffering from the side effects of the one child policy. government imposed it to curb the growth of its 1.3 billion feel. if that one child should die, the parents are left in a dire situation. and they may never recover.

nhk's report. >> reporter: a married couple. nine years ago their only child suffered a heart attack in high school and died. the death sent his father into depression. then, six months later, they suffered a stroke. now, he can't move the right half of his body. his doctor says the stress has been too much. five years later, he suffered another blow. his employer fired him. but, the misery doesn't stop there. his wife, has cancer. she works at a textile factory. however, the couple can't afford medicine.

>> i'm so worried. i have no idea how to make ends meet in the years to come. if our son were alive, he will be supporting us. >> it itss a tradition in china for children to support aging parents. so people who have lost their only child, suffer a double blow. they grieve the loss. and they worry who will take care of them when they get old. three years ago he agreed to help those people. about 300 residents in the province belong to it. all have lost their only child. she leads the group. her son died from a stroke. while attending university ten years ago.

lee says she was able to overcome her grief by telling her story to parents. who suffered a similar loss. s the experience led her to start this activity. i thought if the people in the same situation get together and join hands, things around them would improve. lee and her colleagues give support over the phone on weekend. now, that their only child is dead, some callers have lost the will to live. and some even talk about killing themselves. lee can tell that the caller was suffering from deep depression. and decided to visit her. she has lost her daughter and

husband. now she lives on her own. >> translator: what should i do? if i die here no one would even notice. it is so panful. it is so painful. lee says that there is a limit to what they can do for these people. >> i urged the government to understand what people who have lost their only child are facing. we have obeyed the government's one-child policy, so there is an urgent need for the government to adopt measures support people like us. >> now, after the one child policy, some local officials are conducting an experiment.

they will allow some parents to have more than one child. >> right. and i am joined now from our studio in beijing. so how many other organizations like lee's exist in china? >> there are some in beijing, and shanghai, but the numbers are small. the chinese government says that one million families have lost their only child by the end of last year. new support organizations are emerging slowly, but those ein need are greg faster. >> isn't there any other local government, that are tackling the problem? >> since 2008, bathe beijing government has been supporting the families of a monthly allowance of $33. the shanghai government, one-time money, but, the central government has yet to show any concrete plan.

more complaints are posted on the internet. accusing the government for dragging its feet. the criticism will most likely get even louder. >> i see, thank you very much. that was nhk world's correspondent in beijing. they use cells to make heart muscle cells and did the ate a significantly lower cost. the researchers from kyoto university tested 9,600 kinds of compound on induced stem cells. they wanted to see which one was the most efficient for growing heart muscle. they found that one organic compound has a more than 90%

chance of bringing abut t ing i transformation. the researchers found they could do that with the compound for about 1/20th the cost of other methods. >> we hope this method will be used in clinical treatments to help patients around the world. we want to contribute to that end. >> the researchers say now they need to test their discovery on animals to see how safe it is.a crashes, volcanic activity, members of japan's nuclear regulation authority is studying a range of catastrophic scenarios to establish safety standard for nuclear plants. japanese power companies have been responsible for devise tharg oing their own measures to deal with the aftermath of disaster.

addressing scenarios with earthquakes and tsunami. what happened last year in fukushima, revealed they were unpreparred to cope with catastrophe. it would require, utilities meet the new safety standard before they can restart plants that are currently offline. nro officials met thursday with five experts who are reviewing their current guidelines. the discussion focused on meeting international standard. an outlean ine of the plan will announced as early as january. new standard are expected to be completed by july. and the head of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission says, she is concerned about a possible decline in the number of nuclear engineers. allison mcfarland spoke at a public meeting in washington. >> you are not probably going to see a lot of young people, become nuclear engineers. and, so, this is a concern not only to the nuclear industry but

to the regulators because you want to make sure that you have adequate staff to ensure that these facilities operate safely. mcfarland said japan's nuclear regulation authority will be better than its predecessor because it is more independent. >> two women from different corners of the world have teamed up to sell something carried by women everywhere. one is from japan. the other, from ethiopia. their partnership to sell these handbags, began years ago. they had to overcome some challenges along the way. nhk world's story. >> reporter: during the last decade the economy has grown

more than 10% per year. and employees at this small workshop in the suburb make handbags. now works with 11 local craft people. >> ethiopian leather products are very good. when i discovered this, i immediately saw the great potential. >> it is all made possible by ethiopian sheep. 3,000 meters above sea level. their leather seemed soft and durable. it is world class. most sheep skins used to be exported to manufacturers outside of the country. but, four years ago, the government began to promote the domestic industry.

now, it is possible to obtain high quality leather for making handbags right in ethiopia. she first stepped foot in ethiopia ten years ago . at first she was frustrated. many people were so used to living off foreign aid, they seemed to have lost the incentive to work. but after she met her, her attitude changed. the partnership began soon after she came to finish leather product. seeing her work so hard and treat each piece with such care, it made me want to collaborate with some one who had those values. in fact, i wanted to create a brand that would express those values.

>> it's nice. we like it. >> the pair wanted to make the designs that showed the influence of ethiopia. this colorful juice drink, famous in ethiopia, inspired the two to design a basic handbag pattern. >> it's unique and interesting. and it gave me an idea. >> the workshop opened two years ago. but the company delayed selling goods in japan and the workers made better quality goods. she still keeps an eye on quality. >> what is this? there is a flaw here? >> she does not compromise.

and s >> i felt that i could contribute by working with people who do not have as many opportunities as people in japan. i hope that our products will show ethiopia's beauty and potential. >> their next step is to make more handbags. but first, they need to train new workers. even though it will take lots of time, the two women will press ahead. n an animated film about two men in a retirement home has won the top award. this is japan prize. the international contest, jut standing educational media programs. 60 countries and territories made more than 330 entries to the contest, sponsored by nhk.

japan's crown prince attended the award ceremony at the nhk broadcasting center in tokyo. it went to the spanish film. the movie depicts how two men deal with effects of aging. judges cited detail and humorous description of the issue of nursing care. they awarded the best work prin mar in primary, to my classroom. and the best work in innovative media went to the alzheimers experience by the dutch production company submarine. time now to check the world weather forecast, people in the caribbean island are dealing with a very strong storm. let's tornado now to meteorologist, sayaka mori for updates. >> wreaking havoc in the caribbean island. we have some video coming out of cuba. after battering jamaica, the

hurricane sandy slammed into cuba thursday as category 2 system. strong wind have toppled trees and downed power lines. also extensive mudslides and flooding occurred, forcing hundreds to seek shelter. now sunday is situated over the bahamas, producing rain and strong wind. hurricanebahamas. into friday. and rainfall of about 150 millimeters, likely here, with locally 300th mudslide. rain extending towards the north. hurricane sandy is expected to move parallel to the east coast of the u.s. for the next couple of days. it looks like it will move into the mid-atlantic region near washington, d.c. or new york city by tuesday. regardless of the track it could certainly produce, rough seas, strong winds and some showers. along the eastern seaboard of the u.s. for the next several days. as for the continent, strong low-pressure system is located over eastern canada, producing moderate to heavy snow and heavy

rain. and also, thundershowers along the cold front, and as the rain moving through, temperatures, will drop significantly, so, look at this. only 90 degrees expected in chicago. that is 15 degrees cooler than thursday. 13 degrees in oklahoma city. and threen d ein denver. still on the hot side. 30 degrees in los angeles. we have red flag warnings. for southern california. all right, moving into the philippines, and another tropical system is now moving over the south china sea. this is tropical system, expected to become a severe tropical storm within the next 24 hours. may make the second landfall in vietnam, some time between saturday afternoon into your sunday morning, local time. heavy rain, of up to 100 millimeters is likely, from tonight into saturday night. and more heavy rain, will be coming down in central and northern vietnam, over the weekend. as for the philippines, the stormiest conditions have, have

been over. but heavy rain is continuing, as much as 150 millimeters or more likely in the upper part of the philippines including manila over the next 72 hours or so. as for the rest of the -- the east asia, rain is intensifying over the river valley that is going to be spreading into the korean peninsula as well as japan into the weekend. all right. finally let's go to europe. the main story is going to be a big temperature contrast between the north and the south. and anywhere to the north of the front, very chilly. look at this. only 7 degrees expected in berlin. and, 5 degrees in warsaw. and 2 in moscow. and actually, snow showers on the cars for warsaw on your saturday. meanwhile, very warm for this time of year in rome. 24 degrees expected. and 26 in athens. all right. that's it for me now. and up next is your extended, extended forecast.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that is all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thank you very much for joining us.